One of my key interests in virtual reality, or virtual environments is the way it is able communicate an experience, linear immersive experiences (otherwise known as stories) in particular. We use stories for more than entertainment, stories hold tremendous value for social progress and preservation of culture (history), the industry (advertising), creativity and inspiration (fiction), [...]

Posted on: August 24, 2008 | No Comments »

When I talk about ‘the immersion in virtual worlds’ it’s not uncommon I get a questioning look. Most of the time I use a simplified example of the Matrix - The Matrix illustrates complete, 100% artificial ‘immersion’ into virtuality. At first I get a smile and something along the lines of: “yes, but we don’t [...]

Posted on: June 10, 2008 | 4 Comments »

This Friday I ‘lurked’ at Orange Island - the big debate of Augmentism Versus Immersion. Though the discussion itself was largely inconclusive it, raised a number of questions I’ve been running into over the course of the Usability Versus Immersion debate as well. The Immersionists were given voice by blogger Gwyneth Llewellyn and Extropia Core [...]

Posted on: March 3, 2008 | 31 Comments »

Linden Labs recent release of their new client ‘Dazzle‘ (or see Rheta’s excellent photo review here) reminded me of an old debate I still frequently have with a friend who’s more into games (World of Warcraft and Counterstrike). when I showed him Second Life he was surprised how anyone would be able to ‘immerse’ themselves [...]

Posted on: February 25, 2008 | 33 Comments »

Replicating the five senses (vision, touch, smell, sound, taste) in virtual environments has been an inspiration for science fiction for as long as the genre has been around. Complete immersion in Virtual Worlds such as ‘the Matrix’ or ‘Snow Crash’ always seems to be the ‘final step’ into virtuality. But how far are we really [...]

Posted on: February 11, 2008 | 2 Comments »

This is going to be a short post because if you haven’t heard about Johnny Lee you should really just look him up on youTube. His latest experiment he shows us perspective based 3d interaction, all for the price of a Wiimote and a pair of safety goggles. His other experiments include a multi-touch screen [...]

Posted on: December 22, 2007 | 3 Comments »